An exercise in insanity as I attempt to review every Power Rangers episode to date.
PLEASE NOTE: I do not own the rights to anything involving Power Rangers, nor anything else I may mention in my reviews. Those belong to their respective companies, not me.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Power Rangers Season 2 Episode 18 - White Light Part 2

So, we have another new monster on the loose, Bulk and Skull have found Rita's dumpster, and Zordon and Alpha have shut down the Command Center, leaving the Rangers on their own. But who cares about any of that, THERE'S GONNA BE A NEW RANGER! OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD! Who is he? What does he look like? What Zord will he have? Let's not waste any more time speculating and find out!

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We pick up where we left off as Billy watches Zordon and Alpha work on the new Ranger. He runs off to tell the others, making enough noise that I'm surprised Alpha and Zordon didn't overhear him. On the moon, Zedd gloats about his minor victory due to the Rangers' retreat and promises to finish them off next time he sees them.

We cut to Billy's lab where he tells the group about the new Ranger. Surprisingly, the Rangers aren't exactly receptive to the idea. For one thing, Zordon and Alpha kept it a secret from them. Another problem is that they don't know who it is. Kimberly questions why they didn't just give Tommy the new powers, considering he was already a member of the group. Plus, they're all friends with one another and mesh better as a team. But Jason says that they need a new Ranger to help in their fight against Zedd, and that Zordon must have a reason behind what they're doing, so they come to terms with the idea.

After Alpha and Zordon work on the new Ranger some more, we see Bulk and Skull try and fail again to open the dumpster. Skull suddenly gets an idea and they head to see Ernie, for some reason. After they leave, we see that Rita's actually starting to open the dumpster herself. This probably won't end well.

Back at the Command Center, we see that Zordon and Alpha are finished and have reactivated everything. They contact the Rangers and they teleport to the Command Center. Once there, Zordon gives a speech about the Green Ranger's powers disappearing and them needing a new, more powerful Ranger in his stead. They selected a candidate and granted him these powers. Zordon then introduces the newest member of the team, the White Ranger.

A light suddenly turns on from above. The White Ranger slowly descends from above, almost god-like in essence. The suit is amazing, a perfect combination of white, black and gold, making him look very regal and exactly as important as he should be. Zordon then tells him to reveal his true identity. He slowly unclasps his helmet and pulls it off.

Kimberly: *faints*

Holy shit! Who could make Kim faint like that? Is he so incredibly handsome that women literally fall just by looking at him? Who is this guy?

Tommy: Guess who's back?

Oh, hey, it's just Tommy, that's what all the-A-BWHA?!

Yes, the White Ranger is Tommy, meaning he's a full-time Ranger again. Are you really surprised? He has a tender moment with Kimberly as the group celebrates their savior's return.

Zordon: Are you pleased with the new leader of your team?

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! What's all this about Tommy being the leader now? Where did this come from? What about Jason? No, don't just grin and be OK with it, man! Say something! He knocked you out of your position on the team! He didn't even have the decency to forewarn you! Stand up for yourself!

Jason: Uh, Zordon, I thought I was the leader? Weren't you going to clue me in to this anytime soon?

Zordon: Eh, who cares, you're gonna be leaving the show in a few episodes anyway.

Jason: Wait, what?

Zordon: Er, I mean....peace conference. You'll be going to a peace conference. Yeah.

So yeah, Zordon apologizes for being secretive, then goes on about Tommy's new powers are even greater than before and can never leave him. Alpha explains that Tommy will control the new White TigerZord, and will control it with a talking sword by the name of Saba. Oooooookay. But yeah, Tommy's back! Woo!

Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull have what they need to open the dumpster: a giant can opener. I'd comment on the ridiculousness of this, but I'm more curious about where exactly ERNIE found something like that! Zordon catches wind of this, as well as the returning Scarlet Sentinel. Problem is, the Zords were apparently damaged in their last battle and need repairs. Billy and Trini teleport away to repair them, Zack, Jason, and Kim are assigned to stop Bulk and Skull, and Tommy's off to fight the monster. Tommy calls for the morphing sequence, even though he's already morphed. By the way, in case you care, he takes his old position as the first to go, he has a white background instead of green, and calls out "TigerZord" instead of "DragonZord".

Jason, Kim, and Zack arrive and find Z-Putties swarming around, so they start fighting them. Meanwhile, Tommy arrives and immediately summons the White TigerZord. It looks pretty damn cool...until it randomly falls over. OK. By the by, Tommy is a LOT more expressive in the Sentai footage this time around. That would be because his counterpart is a kid. Yeah, Super Sentai did the whole "kid as a Ranger" thing long before Turbo did. Make of that what you will. Oh, and Tommy has a new theme, which is basically just his Green Ranger theme, except with "White Ranger" placed in over the parts with "Green Ranger". Creative.

After that bit of randomness, the three fight more Z-Putties while Tommy successfully enters his White TigerZord. Or rather, he rides on top of it for a bit first before entering. I guess old habits die hard, huh? The TigerZord then roars so hard it actually sends Scarlet Sentinel flying back a bit. Wow. He then converts the TigerZord to Warrior Mode, which is just it standing upright, back legs becoming legs and front legs and head becoming arms and chest, a new head popping up. Also, Tommy has ANOTHER theme while in the TigerZord, "White Ranger Tiger Power". I'm willing to bet someone edited that so it only said "White Power". And if they didn't before, they certainly will now that I suggested it. Anyway, the White TigerZord fights Scarlet Sentinel for a bit, Tommy asking Saba to make it "follow his every move". Why not just tell him to make it punch and kick at the right times? Also, Saba doesn't say much, beyond compliment Tommy on his awesomeness.

After more Z-Putty fighting, Tommy grabs an orb from the back wall and uses it to make the Zord shoot fireballs out of its chest. Yeah, the wall behind Tommy has a bunch of orbs with Japanese symbols on them that make the Zord do things. How much you want to bet we won't see him use this that much? Sentinel summons AC and DC which turns the tide against Tommy. He ejects from the TigerZord, which causes Zordon to make some adjustments to the ThunderZords. For what, we'll see in a moment.

Jason summons the Red DragonZord and it transforms into its Warrior Mode. It then rides on the White TigerZord (now back in its regular mode), which works for a little bit, but not long. The other ThunderZords are then summoned and combine with the TigerZord to form the MegaTigerZord. The Lion forms the shoulders and backplate, the Unicorn and Griffin form the legs, and the Firebird wraps around the TigerZord's right arm. It also spontaneously gets a new helmet. It shows off its finishing move, which is to shoot the Firebird at them, turning it into a flaming projectile. It blasts through all three monsters, finishing them off and leaving the MegaTigerZord and the Red DragonZord Warrior Mode to pose.

Back with Bulk and Skull, they eventually give up on opening the dumpster. Of course, right then, Rita gets out, though still small. She then calls the duo a human Squat and Baboo, and they faint. Hey, that's a pretty devastating insult! Of course, the Rangers arrive and immediately place her back in the dumpster. A little later, they wake Bulk and Skull back up, while demorphed, of course, and act like nothing happened. Meanwhile, Zordon sends the dumpster back into space, where Rita will never return....for now, anyway.

We cut to the Juice Bar, where the group are celebrating Tommy's return, who is now wearing white, of course. Richie then walks over, apparently having won a martial arts trophy. Whoopee. He demonstrates, which causes a cake to go flying into Bulk and Skull. The two immediately decide "screw this", and leave. Tommy's glad that things haven't changed in the three episodes he's been gone, group laughs, episode ends.

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As far as a two-parter goes, this one was pretty good. The first part worked well as the setup, and the second part was simple awesome in its reveal. The most popular character is back, he has new powers, meaning new suit, new Zord, new everything. And since he's using a Dairanger costume now, that means he can actually fight the monster without it looking like a choppy mess. Though I'm still surprised there was no problem with Tommy suddenly becoming the leader. Overall, well done, and worth your time.

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Here's the new White Ranger. I actually like the little bit of unintentional continuity here as it looks a bit like the Green Ranger suit.

Here we have the new White TigerZord...

...and here's its Warrior Mode.

Finally, the ultimately awesome MegaTigerZord. Which, for some reason, doesn't get used that much. I think.

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Unfortunately I can't find a sequence of the White Ranger morph alone. You'll have to wait until later after...well, you'll see.